Reader Discussion: Gender-Swapping Gaming Icons

Today, Marvel Comics announced that the newest incarnation of Thor is a woman. This has stirred up some discussion in the comic world, but could it have implications in other media?

Whether this is an earnest effort to create a more compelling female hero or just a publicity stunt, it also raises questions related to other forms of entertainment. Is this the kind of move that we might see in the video game world? Women are already under-represented as video game heroes; would it help to swap the gender of already-established icons? Could Kratos be a woman? Could Master Chief?

What characters and franchises do you think could benefit from a similar approach? Are we too resistant to change to accept it? Would it just be a hollow gesture without more significant changes regarding the role of women in the industry? Sound off (in a respectful manner) in the comments section below.

This is plain silly and not a move to increase diversity. Rather, this is a straight grab for attention and limelight. And as news of Fem-Thor has reached quite far, I'd say that Marvel has accomplished their goal.
Before I start off, I'd like to say that this is nothing like Kamila Khan becoming Ms. Marvel, and moreso Wally West becoming black. In Ms. Marvel's case, it was a changing of the guard. They had recognized Ms. Marvel's prior history and treated her character with respect. This was a new Ms. Marvel. In Wally's case, it's moreso DC changed a fairly vital part of Wally's character and everyone just acts like he was always black. That's disrespectful to the Flash. How would you feel if Lara Croft became a man? No, this isn't her son. This isn't someone she's passed the title to. Lara Croft is a man. And now she'll be a man until we need another shakeup. That's not Lara. That hasn't been Lara for the last twenty years. That's not Wally. This isn't Thor.
When you do something like this, it completely disrespects all of the lore you made for that character. You're insulting the fans who've grown up with these characters and have connected with them. And then you slap a "diverse" sticker on it and everyone who disagrees with your decision is a bigot. I wouldn't have a problem if this was Thor's daughter. Or a warrior who took his place. Or if this was am alternate universe. But no, that wouldn't make enough headlines. So now we all have to read this awkwardly as everyone pretends that Thor was always a female.
That's not how you create a stronger female presence in comics. Or games. You want a strong female character, you don't give a well-established hero some breasts and call it a day. No, you build her from the ground UP. Nobody's going to remember this woman as Thor. They're going to know her as a stupid recton. People like Kamila Khan because she's her own person. She's a great character that respects both women and Muslim life. She might be Ms. Marvel, but the writers don't pretend that she was the only Ms. Marvel ever. They're respecting the lore around her. If you want to be Kamila Khan, you have to MAKE Kamila Khan. If they made Kamila a Jewish male tomorrow, I'd be mad for the same reason. Because this is no longer crafting character you care about. This is trying to make easy headlines and bank.
And that's exactly what Marvel's doing with this. And it's sad. That's not creating a diverse world. If they were afraid of making a completely new woman superhero to headline a major comic, they could've pulled a "Punisher in Spiderman" and created a similar scenario in the Thor series first to gauge interest. But they chose not to. Because they don't want a new character. They don't want to put the time in. They want easy bank. Hell, Captain America just retired. They could've had a female step in for him and have it still be respectful to the character. But that wouldn't gain enough interest. They could've introduced a new female character in the MCU, but they chose not to. So I don't want to hear that they're trying, because this isn't a case of that.
What I wish people would understand about diversity is that it isn't taking white males out of everything and replacing them. It's about instead creating more of everything else to join them. Colors. Genders. Personalities. Sexual Preferences. It's about expanding and creating a mixing pot so that everyone can have their own "Thor" to look up to. It's about growth. This isn't growth. It's ignorance and deceitful marketing.
Edit: Actually, this IS someone simply taking the Thor mantle, he's still around. Thanks for the correction. Carry on and ignore my stupid post. Sorry, Marvel.

I'm completely on board with this decision and I'm glad Marvel didn't shoot it down before we had a chance to read and enjoy it. Jason Aaron is a great writer and I'm sure he can pull this off. We need more strong female characters!

There is no reason why a shift towards more female-protagonist-oriented games could not be great, just as long as they are not placed in that position without careful planning and thought. A woman Kratos (Kratas?) would be not taken seriously in my opinion, and perhaps deemed an extreme menopausal warrior. The issue of females being taken seriously in games also is one that has to progress, and while it will be a slow, slow process, I believe that game developers can execute, and we, the consumer base, will not disregard a game or series we love solely for the fact that it stars a woman. However, creating new games with female characters will send a stronger message than just changing the gender of established characters, which is a poor move in any medium.

I don't know if this counts as "gender swapping" in the same sense as what they did with Thor (which I think is pretty awesome btw) but I still want to play as Zelda in a Zelda game.
I say bring on more girls. They certainly did a good job with Tomb Raider, I want to see more. And less lame excuses like Ubisoft and female assassins.

I'm okay with Thor being a female. As long as she's got the Uru hammer, I'm cool.
Isn't there a female "Kratos" already, the red-haired lady from Heavenly Sword, or even the player character in Drag-On Dragoon 3¿ Those are female versions of Kratos as far as I'm concerned. Although Drag-On Dragoon 3 has even more fun than GoW for me.
Also, wasn't there a Marvel Thorgal already, or was that some other Western comic¿
I'd like to have more female characters in gaming, as well as transgender as well.
I'd like to play a game with the lead being an African/Asian male or female.

Why? It really seems like pandering to the feminist movement. Not that I'm against them, but it does seem like everybody is bending over backwards to not appear sexist, racist, ageist, elitist, or any other politically incorrect word that ends in "ist".

Marvel didn't just gender swap Thor, for some reason he becomes unworthy to wield Mjolnir and the new wielder, who takes the name Thor, is a woman, Thor is still around he just wields his axe now. So to compare it to, say, Sony Santa Monica changing Kratos to a woman is silly. I can see something like this happening in a series like The Legend of Zelda though, since it isn't actually the exact same character from game to game. Howerever, I do feel like if this proves successful and the new female Thor proves popular that, hopefully, we will start seeing more female leads in other mediums as well.

I don't really care so long as it feels natural. Marvel's recent advances to progress representation in comics hasn't felt natural at all. They need to make new characters instead of changing/replacing old ones. As for video games, I just wish devs would give us the option more often. I can't think of any games where the option to change your character's gender would affect the entire game. And I personally feel that we're getting beyond the issues of under-representation in most forms of media. Movies are pretty much past it (still no Wonder Woman movie...) , TV certainly is, but games are certainly lagging behind.

It's as simple asking a question why wonder women has not gotten her own movie. People tend to think that females had gender specific roles. Look at lightning from final fantasy XIII critics praised her saying that cloud and squall had a strong female contender but nobody took her seriously cause she was a women. We expect women to be mages or archers because society has beat into our heads that women can't wield a sword because its a mans weapon. Do I agree no do I think a women is just as capable of being the hero as much as a man yes. Society and make shovenist pigs won't allow it.

I'm all for strong female characters, and when they are present they are usually my favorite character in whatever game they are in. Ellie from The Last of Us is one of my favorite characters of all time! I'd like to see more awesome female protagonists/characters in general. However, I think it's a bit lazy of the creators to just gender swap an existing character rather than creating someone new and original with their own unique story.
I'm just not a fan of gender swaps in general because I'd like to see original characters in their place. I would be upset if all of sudden Master Chief was a woman, and same with Kratos. I would be extremely let down if 343i just decided to make Master Chief Jane-117 all of a sudden instead of making a new female spartan that could be just as awesome. Gender swapping is simply dumb, no matter how you spin it. Wouldn't it be disappointing if Naughty Dog had decided to just make Larry Croft instead of creating their own original character in Nathan Drake? I would rather see some creativity on the part of the creators because in my eyes it's lazy to just gender swap a character for the sake of having a female when the opportunity is there to create an entirely new character that isn't limited by what was already established by the previous version.
Furthermore, another negative of gender swapping is that it sets the precedent that strong female protagonists can only find success if they are built on the success of a previously established strong male character.

We should gender swap Chun Li, Samus, and Laura Croft. *zing*
Honestly gender swapping only makes sense if the new character is taking the reins, like if one Deadpool dies and the next who person to put on the mask happens to be a girl, fine. But Thor is kind of immortal isn't he?

No, no game can benefit from this. You can't just swap out a character's gender after their whole character has been established. If you switched Master Chief's gender but didn't change his personality at all then he'd just be a man with a woman's body. Mass Effect has this problem with female Shepherd. They didn't change her character in any way to separate her from male Shepherd. Female Shepherd acts like a macho man instead of a tough lady and it feels really cheesy.
Gender isn't the only difference between male and female characters.
Of course that's only if you're going to change a character's appearance and nothing else, but gender swapping an already established male character just for the sake of "diversity" is equally stupid. If you want a "strong female lead" then make an entirely new character. With this Thor crap they're basically saying that Thor should have been a woman to begin with and he's not an acceptable character otherwise.